House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said Wednesday he is not running for re-election and plans to leave politics.
Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, issued a statement saying he planned to retire from Congress at the end of this term and would return to working in the justice system.
"Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system," the South Carolina Republican said. "As I look back on my career, it is the jobs that both seek and reward fairness that are most rewarding."
Gowdy is the latest Republican committee chairman who has announced his retirement. Unlike many others, however, Gowdy was not facing a difficult re-election campaign in 2018.
Gowdy became chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last year after Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz left Congress. Gowdy was previously chairman of the House's Benghazi Select Committee, which investigated the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and was heavily criticized by Democrats for using the investigation to attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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